Agitator Newsom reflects on marriage fight

Former mayor reflects on battles since his momentous 2004 move

By Marisa Lagos |
June 26, 2013
| Updated: June 27, 2013 5:25pm

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who as mayor declared same-sex marriage legal in San Francisco in 2004, speaks at City Hall after the Supreme Court rulings.

Photo By Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom (left) and Mayor Ed Lee (right) escort Phyllis Lyon (center) as they prepare to walk down the steps in the rotunda at City Hall for a press conference after the Supreme Court handed down their decisions on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 in San Francisco, Calif. The Supreme Court handed down their decisions dismissing California's Proposition 8 and striking down the Defense of Marriage Act.

Photo By Fred Larson/STAFF

WHITENIGHT/21MAY79/MN/FRL - San Francisco's Gay Community went on a rampage late 5/21/79 breaking windows, setting cars on fire and numeroius other acts of sabotage. Police Chief Charles Gain looks through the shattered windows of the City Hall as he speaks to a demonstrator. Photo by Fred Larson

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GAY FREEDOM/27JUN82/MN/VM - Gay Freedom Day Parade down Market St., San Francisco. The Ferry Bulding shows at the foot of Market St. Photo by Vince Maggiora

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S.F. Mayor Ed Lee (right) and Phyllis Lyon congratulate Newsom before they walk down the steps of the rotunda.

Nearly a decade after he was pilloried by members of his own party for opening up San Francisco City Hall to same-sex marriages, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is basking in the national spotlight and the glow of a long-awaited success.

The 4,000 marriages he blessed as mayor in 2004 were later voided, but gay and lesbian couples may soon be exchanging vows around the state.

Newsom returned to City Hall Wednesday to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. He gave a speech to hundreds of people, appeared on national newscasts and posed for pictures with supporters.

"It's deeply meaningful - what a special thing to be a part of," Newsom said in an interview shortly after being thanked by a gay couple.

He said he had "no idea" things would end up this way.

"I'd like to say 'yes' - it seems more romantic," he said. "I may have had a moment in 2004, but boy, in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, it was a bit lonely."

"Remember, I had a west side (San Francisco) Catholic base," he said. "My father was not happy with the decision - but he's come around."

Four years later, when the California Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right, Newsom declared in an impassioned City Hall speech, "This door's wide open now. It's going to happen, whether you like it or not."

Opponents used the statement in ads for Prop. 8, which passed that November and restricted marriage to opposite-sex couples.

The fiery declaration remains one of the telegenic politician's biggest regrets. But on Wednesday, he was able to laugh about it when San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera brought it up in front of hundreds people.

"He got a lot of heat for it at the time, but look at how things have changed," Herrera said.

Much has changed in the past decade. After the Wednesday rulings, President Obama called the plaintiffs in the same-sex marriage cases to congratulate them. In recent years, 12 other states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage.

"It's nice that California is back in the vanguard," Newsom said.

He credited the bravery of lesbian and gay couples and their allies, not the moves of politicians, for progress on the issue.

"It took tens of millions of conversations across the country that ultimately changed people's beliefs," he said. "The impact of what happened here in 2004 was that it brought the human element into people's living rooms.

"It wasn't a legal brief or a Supreme Court case," he added. "It was the faces of children there for their parents' marriage. It was the face of a mother at her daughter's marriage."

The fight isn't over, Newsom said.

"There are three dozen states where people don't have the same rights as we have in California," he said. "There's an enormous amount of work yet to be done."